Mismanagement and corruption

Because of some family matters, I was required to obtain clearances from many government agencies in the past twelve months. These agencies include the NBI, local police, a unit in the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Foreign Affairs. I can draw two conclusions from the experience. The officer-in-charge of a unit is often the person who comes in latest every day. This happened in the unit of Mandaluyong City police station responsible for issuing police clearance, as well as the DSWD unit. One hour late is the norm. So even though the other junior officials had completed your paper work, you have to wait for the boss to come to work. This is the most obvious sign of mismanagement. If the senior official does not show concern for his work, would his staff do? We are not even talking about competence here.

Second conclusion : the lower down from the headquarters, the more corrupted an office is likely to be. While applying for NBI clearance was cumbersome, having to go to many windows, all steps were clearly displayed, and options explained in large print to the public. No fixers were seen there, and each step was completed quite fast. A tip: if you go there in the late morning, the eager-beaver applicants would have been gone, and the lines would be shorter.

When I went to the city police station to get a police clearance, even though some steps were laid out in a piece of paper glued to one of the windows, it was not clear to me what I was supposed to do. I enquired with the officials inside, and showed them an expired police clearance that I obtained with the help of someone last time. All of a sudden, I was sat down in a corner inside the station. A clerk pulled out a blank certificate, and started typing on it. When he finished, he went over to an other officer, and obtained a signature from that officer. He came back, handed me the certificate and asked for three hundred pesos. I was happy to have the certificate done so fast, so I gave him the money and left. Before I left, I noticed that the office actually had computers for printing the certificates, and another clerk in the office was inputing data from application forms into the computer. Then it dawned on me that I got an official fake police clearance.

Another day while I was waiting in line to talk to some officials in DFA, I read on their bulletin board that the government had recently introduced anti-red tape guidelines, asking all offices to have and display clear procedures for considering applications from citizens, and that the number of signatures required for completing an application be set at no more than five. In addition, it also prescribed time limit for completing the procedures. This measure by the central government should be applauded. At least it shows that the leadership has some intention of improving governance. However, how sincere they are in doing it will be reflected in the implementation of the guidelines. If nobody watches the officials, then of course who would be bothered to remove some colleagues' chance of making extra dough, or exert more effort to get things done faster for the applicants.